Rail Bus Transportation Network Loop System

ABSTRACT

A transportation network system: comprising existing dual-mode vehicles facilities operating on existing railway tracks and on existing roadways roads and existing roadway-railway crossings facilities for the transportation, pickup, and drop off of passengers and of goods within and about an urban city environment. Fundamental to this system is the integration of these exiting facilities with incorporation of modern computer marshalling means for operation of the railway-vehicles and of the roadway dual-mode vehicles, having wireless communications and GPS in which means administered are fuzzy logic computer logic engine means and fuzzy logic algorithmic means for save operation of the vehicles on the railway tracks and on the roads and the dual-mode vehicles entry to or egress from the tracks with which to provide an optimised and safe transportation system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is schematic representation of railways and roadways in the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada

FIG. 2 is a schematic representation of a Rail Bus Transportation Network involving a roadway bus fitted with retractable railway wheels approaching a railway crossing at which the bus intends to enter the railway tracks on which an approaching train is depicted in a specific area in the setting of the City of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

FIG. 3 is a schematic representation of a Rail Bus Transportation Network indicating the inter-communications and control systems between Bus, Pickup and Drop-Off locations, Train, Rail Bus Central Control, and Railway Marshaling, facilities, which communications and control systems are fundamental to the implementation and operations of a Rail Bus Transportation Loop Network.

FIG. 4 is a logic block diagram of the computer fuzzy logic algorithmic means decision-tree structure for the monitoring, scheduling and operation of the Rail Bus Transportation Loop Network.

FIG. 5 is a logic block diagram of the computer fuzzy logic Engine system means decision-tree structure for administration of user and service requests for administration output to the fuzzy logic algorithmic means for operational administration of those requests for the Rail Bus Transportation Loop Network.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

It has taken mankind approximately 200,000 years to go from walking on two legs to riding in vehicles operating on roadways and railroads but perfecting passenger transportation combining both into integrated networks with dual purpose vehicles has before now, yet to be perfected.

Homo sapiens walking upright on two legs evolved in Africa over 200,000 years ago and left Africa approximately 70,000 years ago, eventually arriving in the Americas about 15,000 years ago according to an article “Climate change key to world domination” in the New Scientist, 22 Sep. 2012, by Michael Marshall. Cynthia Phillips and Shana Priwer in the WEB site “http//inventors.about.com” article “History of the Wheel”, note that the oldest wheel, a potters wheel, was discovered in ancient Mesopotamia dating back to 3500 BC and the oldest transportation wheel, a chariot wheel, also was found in Mesopotamia dating back to 3200 BC. A “History of Transport and Travel” by Bamber Gascoigne (www.historyworld.net) notes that the oldest known 4-wheeled wagon was actually discovered in what is now Zuick, Switzerland, and dates back to this 3200 BC time period. These authors suggest that the first spoked wheels appear to have come from Egyptian chariots dating back to approximately 2000 BC at which time the horse becomes available in Mesopotamia. And, between 200 BC and 200 AD the great network of Roman Roads were constructed as the arterial system of the Roman Empire. The birth of mobile road vehicle transportation began.

An article, “Outline of Railroad History”, by Mary Bellis (“http//inventors.about.com”), notes that the first roads of wooden rails, called Wagonways, were being used as early as 1550 in Germany for use by horse-drawn wagons and by 1776 iron rails had replaced the wooden rails. In 1789, Englishman William Jessup designed the first flanged wagon wheels, and in 1803 the first steam engine tramway using these wheels was built in Merthyr Tydfil Wales, by Richard Trevithick. In 1821 Englishman Julius Griffiths patented the first passenger road locomotive and in 1825 English inventor, George Stephenson designed the first locomotive pulling passenger cars demonstrating the carrying of 450 passengers. A Wikipedia Encyclopedia reference “Transportation in Toronto” noted that in 1892-1894 James David Edgar created the “Toronto Belt Line Railway” encircling the then core downtown area, although it failed due to being commercially unsuccessful the need for some type of transit system around an urban city was recognized. The birth of railway transportation began.

In the Wired Magazine, March 2008 issued, an article “The bus starts here”, by Randy Alfred, notes that horse-drawn wagons specifically for passengers were horse-drawn buses with the first known public bus line being launched in 1662 by inventor, Blaise Pascal in Paris France although it lasted only some 15 years. A Wikipedia Encyclopedia reference “Bus”, notes that extensive horse-drawn buses reappeared for public transportation in many cities from the 1820's onward and were followed by steam driven buses in 1882 and electric trolley busses by 1882. The birth of carriage trade transportation began.

A Wikipedia Encyclopedia reference “What year was the first car made” notes that the German inventor, Karl Benz, patented the first automobile powered by an Otto-cycle gasoline engine in 1895 though as early as 1890 cars were being built for the public buyers by Karl Benz and Gottlieb Daimler in Germany and Albert de Dion and Armand Peugeot in France. However mass production of cars for public consumption is credited to the USA inventor, Henry Ford with the first mass produced car the 1908 Model T. The birth of vehicle transportation on roads began.

There have been many attempts to integrate the flanged steel wheels of railway vehicles into the rubber wheeled roadway vehicles. A Wikipedia article on “Road-rail vehicle” notes that although many road-rail vehicles have been designed and road-rail technology dates back to the 1940's by Fairmont Railway Motors and these special purpose vehicles are in common use by railways today for transferring a locomotives by road, and for shunting as well as for track maintenance. However, the same Wikipedia article on “Road Rail buses” notes that many attempts to date to introduce buses and coaches that operate on both roads and rails have never been particularly successful, citing attempts as early as the 1930's in Britain on the Nicky Line by the LMS company and the New South Wales Railways in the 1970's, and by the Deusche Bundersbahn in Germany in the Koblenz area that operated buses outfitted with railway vehicle flanged steel wheels, “bogies”, from the 1950' to the 1970's. An article in “The Transit Coalition” in 2008 asks if it is practical to create a “Bus Rapid Transit” system using dual mode vehicles and cites the Hokkaido Railway Company that since April 2007 continues testing a dual-mode road and rail bus like vehicles for operation on roadways with rubber tires and retractable railway wheels for railway operation. And a similar system, “Blade Runner Dual-mode System” noted in a June 2004 article by Carl Henderson, in “Bus and Coach Buyer” details the work done by his design firm Silvertip Design for the Dept. of Trade and Industry of the British Government and partners. The birth of roadway and railway dual purpose bus began.

The technologies to produce dual-mode vehicles with railway wheels roadway wheels implemented on vehicles are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 2,150,348 reveals a dual-mode vehicle with roadway wheels and railway wheels for operation on roads or railway tracks and U.S. Pat. No. 2,541,514 reveals an improved road and wheel caster system for road and rail dual-mode vehicles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,048,925 described a vehicle for road and rail travel and U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,257 describes a retractable wheel system for road and rail use and U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,465 describes the railway type of wheels for use on a road vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,740 describes an air suspension system for controlling the road and rail wheels while U.S. Pat. No. 5,220,870 describes an air bag lift system to retract the railway wheels on a dual-mode rail and road vehicle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,533 describes a tractor and trailer truck application of such dual-mode vehicles and USPTO patent describes a system wherein the roadway wheels of a dual-mode vehicle are retracted to allow the railway, bogie wheels to engage with the railway tracks as opposed to the lowering of the railway wheels to. engage the tracks and U.S. Pat. No. 8,061,277 discloses a design to improve the weight distribution loading on the wheels. U.S. Pat. No. 6,123,629 teaches railway trucks switchable at railway station platforms to roadway vehicles and U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,994 describes the mechanical systems for construction of a hybrid transit corridor and vehicles for transportation of people and goods.

The technologies to produce these dual-mode vehicles with railway wheels and roadway wheels implemented on vehicles for transportation of people are well known. U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,871 describes a dual-mode transportation system utilizing a suspended mono-rail system carrying a bus having roadway wheels for use when detached from the mono-rail and U.S. Pat. No. 5,813,349 describes a dual-mode transport system in which vehicles are electronically guided on specialized roadways and U.S. Pat. No. 6,169,954 B1 describes a dual-mode system of controlled vehicles while running on a controlled runway and manually operated on regular roads and by the same inventor, U.S. Pat. No. 6,276,542 B1 updates the computerized control of these vehicles while operating on the controlled runway including communications with a central computer system that controls the vehicles on the controlled runway.

The technologies to produce railway retractable wheels implemented on roadway buses are well known. The existing infrastructure of railway lines and roadways in modern cities are well established. The computerized systems to control and schedule the operations of railway vehicles and roadway vehicles and the safety controls and signals for their intersecting crossings are well known. A Nov. 30, 2012 article in the Information Feature section of the Toronto Ontario paper the Globe and Mail stated that the Canadian company “Thales Canada invented today's modern, automated train control technology, Communications-Based Train Control, over 25 years ago and that its products can be found in more than 30 cities around the world. This “brains for trains” technology increases efficiency by 30 to 40 per cent.

However, all of the above developments have not had success or acceptance as a viable transportation system in the urban—suburban communities of today's modern major cities. This failure is because these developments have been unable to integrate the supporting road and railway infrastructures into a complete transportation network. A Wikipedia article, Transportation in Toronto noted that the need for an urban transportation system was recognized in the late 1800's with the 1892 construction of the “Belt Line Railway” but failed in 1894.

The disclosures in this patent solve these failures and reveal the components and methods for the creation of a passenger and a goods transportation network system, comprising dual-mode vehicles operating on existing railway lines, and existing roadways, and existing roadway-railway crossings, integrating administration of marshalling operations utilizing modern fuzzy logic computer means scheduling, vehicle and train tracking and movement controlling, and communications systems, thereby forming an operational transportation network system incorporating all these components. The system is an integrated transportation network system for the movement of people and of goods within, across and about an urban city environment. A new transportation network begins. 

What We claim is:
 1. A transportation network system permitting urban and city environment passengers and urban and city environment goods to be carried and to travel within, across and around said urban and city environment, said system comprising integration of existing railway lines, existing roadways, existing roadway and railway crossing facilities between said railway lines and said roadways, existing crossing facilities between said railway lines and vehicles equipped with dual-mode wheel mechanisms allowing said vehicles movement on said railways and said roadways, and said dual-mode wheel mechanisms having retractable railway wheels in addition to non-retractable roadway wheels, and said dual-mode wheel mechanisms permitting said vehicle to enter and egress said railway lines and said roadways at said crossing facilities, and a central marshalling facility having communications facilities permitting determination of said vehicles' locations and velocities and permitting determination of locations and velocities of any railway-vehicles also using said railways for purpose of scheduling usage of the railway lines by both the said vehicles and said railway-vehicles.
 2. A system according to claim 1 including a communications system permitting inter-communications between said vehicles and said railway-vehicles operating in said transportation network and said central marshalling facility.
 3. A communications system according to claim 2 permitting the monitoring of movements of said vehicles and said railway-vehicles including said communications system facilitated with said central marshalling facility function for determination of the scheduling of said vehicles and said railway-vehicles to determine their safe operation on said railway lines of said network.
 4. A system according to claim 1 wherein said vehicles with said dual-mode wheel mechanisms have facilities allowing steerable wheels to permit the said vehicles entrance and egress to the said railway lines from said roadways at the said existing roadway and railway crossing facilities of said network.
 5. A system according to claim 1 wherein said vehicles with said dual-mode wheel mechanisms have a wheelbase length from front wheels to back wheels of both the said roadway wheels and the said railway wheels to permit the said vehicles entrance to and egress from the said railway lines, from said roadways at the said existing roadway and railway crossing facilities of said network.
 6. A system according to claim 4 wherein said vehicles have said steerable wheels for said front wheels permitting said vehicles egress from and entry to said railway lines at those said existing roadway and railway crossings facilities of said network.
 7. A system according to claim 4 wherein said vehicles have said steerable wheels for said rear wheels permitting said vehicles egress from and entry to said railway lines at those said existing roadway and railway crossings facilities of said network.
 8. A system according to claim 4 wherein said vehicles have incorporated into their said steerable wheels the capability of steering both the front and the rear wheels to permit said vehicles egress from and entrance to said railway lines at said crossings facilities.
 9. A system according to claim 4 wherein said vehicles with said steerable wheels have facilities permitting said vehicles egress from and entry to said railway lines at said crossings which do not require additional crossing facilities other than those said existing roadway and railway crossings facilities of said network.
 10. A communication system according to claim 3 wherein said central marshalling facility includes an active logic engine incorporating an active logic decision engine to administer marshalling algorithms for determination of safe and optimum scheduling and operation of said vehicles and railway-vehicles on said transportation network.
 11. A system according to claim 10 including databases containing records of said marshalling and scheduling data to determine active monitoring of all currently operating said vehicles and said railway-vehicles on said transportation network.
 12. A system according to claim 11 wherein records of said marshalling and scheduling databases include categories of conditions to permit outputs to be administered for determination of updated marshalling and scheduling suitable to be adjustable for selected conditions and a determination of new marshalling and scheduling decisions reflecting the latest conditions of vehicles and railway-vehicles and passenger loads and goods loads requirements for operation on said network.
 13. A system according to claim 3 wherein said communications system includes a GPS geo-positional location facility in each of said vehicles and each of said railway-vehicles to permit their locations and velocities and directions of movements on said network for monitoring by said central marshalling function.
 14. A system according to claim 10 wherein said active logic engine is administered to determine operating condition and control of said operating condition of required warning systems at said roadway and railway crossing facilities on said network wherein said warning systems are remotely controlled and wherein said warning systems are manually or mechanically controlled to assure from said communications with said vehicles and railway-vehicles that said warning systems have been deployed.
 15. A system according to claim 10 wherein said active logic engine is administered to determine likely arrival time of said vehicles at the next scheduled roadway or railway locations where passengers or where goods can be loaded or off-loaded on said network.
 16. A system according to claim 15 wherein a display facility is provided at said locations to display said arrival time of the next said vehicle arrival as determined by said logic engine for display on said display facility.
 17. A system according to claim 15 wherein communications facilities are provided at pickup and drop-off locations wherein said communications with said logic engine provide display facilities and input-output facilities to provide a method whereby said passengers or providers or receivers of said goods have communications means between said facilities and said logic engine.
 18. A system according to claim 17 wherein said communications facilities with said logic engine provide additional information to said engine to update said scheduling requirements for any said railway locations on said network and whereby said logic engine can output and display said update scheduling on the said display and said input-output facilities at said locations.
 19. A system facility according to claim 15 wherein said roadway or railway locations provide said locations with a facility for the purchase of tickets for passengers or for goods for carriage on said vehicles operating within the said network.
 20. A system facility according to claim 15 wherein said logic engine is administered to determine the switching facilities necessary for interconnecting the said railway lines for said vehicle scheduled movement along and between said railway lines.
 21. A transportation loop network system for transport of passengers and goods, comprising: an integration means of existing railway tracks and railway marshalling facility means and existing roadway road and railway crossings and facilities permitting entry and egress of dual-mode vehicles with operating means for travel on roadway roads and railway tracks operating means and with communication means that are communicating with a central rail bus marshalling communications and controlling fuzzy logic computer logic engine facility means wherein said integration means can determine operations by which to form a looped transportation network system means of said vehicles operating on tracks of said railways and operating on roads of said interconnected roadways for the pickup and drop-off of passengers and of goods, thereby providing an integrated looped transportation network system surrounding and crossing the urban and metropolitan areas of a city region; said transportation system having a central communications facility means housing the said computer logic engine facility to determine operations of the entire loop transportation system arrangement; said central rail bus communications facility means having communications with said railway marshalling facility means controlling railway-vehicles using said railway tracks; said vehicles having a mobile said computer logic engine facility means and said communications systems communicating with said central communications marshalling facility means and communicating with other said vehicles having said mobile said computer logic engine facility means; said railway marshalling means having communications with said vehicles; said railway marshalling means having communications with said railway-vehicles; said vehicles having communications with said railway-vehicles; said vehicles providing for the pickup and drop-off, of said passengers, and of said goods, in a dual mode of operating on said railway tracks facilities and operating on said roadway roads facilities in the said looped transportation network; said vehicles each having a GPS geo-positioning locations and movements means communicating said vehicles locations and movements to said central marshalling facility; said vehicles having said mobile communications systems whereby passengers and whereby goods shippers and receivers can communicate with said central marshalling facility means to administer arrangements for transportation of said passengers or of said goods on said looped transportation network system; said railway facility means providing said railway-vehicles with said mobile communications systems to provide communications with said central communications facility means; said vehicles providing for the said pickup and said drop-off of said passengers and of said goods, can provide said pickup or drop-off functions anywhere within said looped transportation network on said roadways or said railways that provide entry to or egress from said roadways for entry to or egress from said railways as said central marshalling facilities administration means determines; said pickup and drop-off locations facilities on the said looped transportation network are provided with said communications systems for the ticketing, payment, and shipping arrangements facilitating the said pickup and drop-off of said passengers and of said goods at said locations; said vehicles are provided with said communications systems for the ticketing, payment, and shipping arrangements facilitating the said pickup and drop-off of said passengers and of said goods at said locations.
 22. A system according to claim 21, wherein said mobile logic computer engine using said mobile communications means communicating to said central marshalling communications facilities, said mobile logic engine includes a fuzzy logic monitoring facility means to determine if said vehicle has been stationary for a preset selectable period of time on said railway tracks and that said vehicle is not located at a said roadway crossing of said tracks and nor is said vehicle located at said pickup and drop-off locations such that said fuzzy logic determines said period of time has been exceeded.
 23. A system according to claim 22 using said mobile communications system means on said vehicle, said fuzzy logic monitoring facility means using said mobile communications system reports to said central marshalling communications facility means that the said vehicle is stationary on said tracks and has exceeded said time.
 24. A system according to claim 23, with which said time period information communicated to said central marshalling facility means by said mobile communications means permits said marshalling facility administering of said controlling fuzzy logic computer logic engine to determine and administer marshalling decisions accommodating for said stationary vehicle and communications to the railway for the safe operations of the said looped transportation network system.
 25. A system according to claim 21, in which the said dual-mode vehicles operating on the said railway tracks have means for activating any crossing warning, signalling, roadway traffic controlling means such as but not limited to guard gates and arms, flashing lights, audible alarms such as but not limited to those means activated by and for train traffic moving across said crossings at said roadway-railway crossings.
 26. A system according to claim 21, in which the said dual-mode vehicles can enter to or egress from any said railway tracks at any said crossings having said facilities for such entre or egress. 